Well, I finally got to go to my very first crime festival in Harrogate, and what a great weekend it was. Set over four-days, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate is a must for any fan of Crime Fiction.

The weekend was packed with interesting panels, special guest conversations, (Eddie Izzard, and Rory Bremner) and a lovely dinner at the White Hart with my publisher Thomas and Mercer and the team.

The place was buzzing and i spent most of the weekend mingling with like minded people, talking books at the Old Swan’s bar. There was even a ‘friendly’ game of football put on between some of the authors, North V’s South, where, one author unfortunately fractured his ankle, and another possibly his wrist.

The final score was 6-0 to the North! Boooo! (If it was a drinking comp, the South would have won hands down!!)

I met some lovely people, Peter James being one of them. I’m a huge fan of Peters, and it was such an honour to speak with him, albeit it briefly as he was surrounded, as always, by lots of adoring fans.

Other highlights were listening to Val McDermid on the panel, a really funny lady and strangely enough, (or not seeing as I write crime), the most interesting panels for me were Lisa Gardner’s, where she spoke of the infamous Body Farm in Texas, and the Forensics panel. Gruesome but very interesting stuff!

I had such a great time, and after drinking my body weight in Gin, and knackering myself out from the constant chatter, my weekend in beautiful Harrogate came to an end…